First Love
Aska Yang
Even established singers are getting a fillip from reality competition shows now. And not as judges but as contestants.
China’s I Am A Singer has reminded everyone how gorgeously Terry Lin can sing and former One Million Star contestant Aska Yang has been wooing fans anew with his clear and soaring vocals.
The Taiwanese singer’s pipes are made for emotive ballads and that is where the focus of his third album lies.
Yang contributes lyrics and works with a roster of top names including composer-producer Jonathan Lee and singer-songwriters such as William Wei, Yen-j, Wu Jiahui and sodagreen’s ubiquitous Wu Ching-feng.
The mood is mildly melancholic as Yang sensitively parses love, loss and loneliness in an urban landscape. On opening track Actually Nothing At All, he sings: “In a city with rapid footsteps/I still live alone/I’ve had hope before but nothing came of it/Can only count on a song to tell my story.”
The title track has him in a nostalgic mood: “Thinking of my first love, thinking that my earliest dreams are there no longer/Thinking of youth, I was once fearless, failure mattered not”.
Even when the material is not as strong, Yang’s voice keeps things consistently compelling.
(ST)